Take a breath and find your Groov

Highlights from our webinar on breathing with Jazz Thornton, Sir John Kirwan, and Dr Fiona Crichton.

We recently hosted a webinar celebrating the power of deep breathing with mental health advocate Jazz Thornton, Groov co-founder Sir John Kirwan, and Groov Clinical VP Dr Fiona Crichton.

Watch the replay or read highlights from the webinar below.

1. Box breathing is great for beginners

If you’re learning how to breathe deeply for the first time, box breathing is a great place to start. Both Jazz and JK started with box breathing: breathe in for four seconds, hold for four, breathe out for four, and hold for four.

Jazz says box breathing is still her go-to technique and finds it especially compatible with her “ADHD brain”.

“For me personally, because of the ADHD, my mind wanders if I do longer stints of holding my breath. Box breathing I find it a little easier to stay focused,” explains Jazz.

JK goes as far to credit box breathing with saving his life!

“I started box breathing and it saved my life. A psychiatrist taught me – and I was pretty cynical at first. But later that week when fear started to circle me, I started breathing. I’m not saying it cured me straight away, but it made the fear tolerable. And I’ve been deep breathing ever since,” says JK.

2. Breathing helps you out of fight or flight

Dr Fiona explains the science behind why deep breathing is so powerful: because it switches off your body’s fight or flight response.

“The amazing thing about breathing – it’s like magic! – is if you drop your breathing down to your belly, what happens is you can’t be in fight or flight. Because fight or flight requires you to be breathing from your chest,” explains Dr Fiona.

There are a few different techniques for deep breathing. As long as you fill your belly, you’ll help your body out of fight or flight.

3. Habit stacking is a game-changer

JK remembers to breathe whenever he does certain activities or feels certain emotions – a technique called habit stacking. 

“I breathe when I’ve been rushing, when I’m upset, before I go to sleep, and to maintain calm. I also associate breathing with hopping in the car,” says JK.

Dr Fiona also uses the habit stacking technique. She breathes whenever she brushes her teeth.

4. Breathing helps you slow down

The modern world is fast-paced and deep breathing offers a slice of calm among the chaos. Jazz draws on deep breathing whenever she notices her “brain tracking too fast”.

“I have ADHD so my brain is fast and it just moves non-stop. So breathing is what helps slow my brain down just a little bit, which has been very very helpful,” says Jazz.

JK also uses breathing as an opportunity to slow down. Although he’s a self-described ‘active relaxer’ with a busy ‘monkey mind’, he loves looking for moments where he can slow down and appreciate what’s around him.

“There’s so many beautiful things around us if we just slow down and look,” says JK.

5. Breathing can also give you energy

Most people associate breathing with rest and relaxation, but certain breathing techniques can actually energize you and give you confidence.

JK has been practising a technique called ‘Wim Hof’ which involves breathing in really fast 30 times in a row and then holding your breath. It can make some people feel quite dizzy so it’s best to try this lying down.

“I tried Wim Hof to see how long I could hold my breath for, because I’m an avid surfer and sometimes if I fall off a wave I can panic. Practising the Wim Hof technique actually gave me energy and confidence when holding my breath,” explains JK.

There are many different breathing techniques to try, and some work better for certain situations than others. If in doubt, start with box breathing and build up from there. Pausing to take a breath really is one of the most powerful things you can do for your wellbeing – and it only takes a few seconds to get started.